Woman visiting camp for UP riot victims raped,two arrested

Two men have been arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old married woman who had come to visit her parents at a relief camp for people who fled the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The incident allegedly took place on Friday at a madrasa in Jogi Khera in the Fugana area. Fugana was among the worst affected areas in the riots with nearly 50 killed and 50,000 displaced.

The two accused have been identified as Sachin and Sunil Kumar.

While police maintained that the incident was not communal,senior officers said it had deepened the mistrust between the Jat and Muslim communities and tension remained high in the area.

We have arrested the two accused and are investigating the matter. We have also deployed police officers in sensitive areas to ensure that no other untoward incident takes place, said H M Singh,SSP of Muzaffarnagar.

The woman said she had walked out of the madrasa with her 8-year-old sister when she was assaulted on Friday. I recognized the two,they were from Fugana. While we were living there,before the clashes,they never said anything to me. Nor did they ever misbehave with me, she said.

The 20-year-old had come to the relief camp with her family after the riots.

After a few weeks,I went to my husbands home. But things looked peaceful,so I returned to the madrasa because I wanted to meet my parents, she said.

SSP Singh said the woman had been sent for medical examination to confirm rape,but the results were inconclusive.

Police said the woman had gone out of the madrasa and was on a road adjacent to it that led directly to Fugana village. She was spotted by the men who were coming on the same road. They allegedly dragged her to sugarcane fields nearby and raped her,police said.

Police have lodged a case of gangrape on the basis of the womans complaint.

According to her family,the victims eight-year-old sister screamed for help after the woman was abducted by the men. On hearing her screams,people from the relief camp came out and caught the two and thrashed them.

We rushed to the fields and caught the two. It was a Friday and the incident took place at the time of afternoon prayers and as a result everyone was busy, said the womans father.

Both men are from Fugana village,which is barely a kilometre from the refugee camp.